How you can

Heal the Bay

Protect California Waters from Industrial Pollution

Industrial facilities can be a major source of toxic stormwater pollution. Runoff from over 10,000 industrial sites statewide – landfills, oil refineries, metal recycling facilities – can pollute our rivers and oceans, if left un-checked. As an extreme example, DDT and PCB -laden runoff and wastewater discharged from the Montrose Chemical Corporation and other industries in Torrance, CA have resulted in a large EPA Superfund Clean-up site off of Palos Verdes.

California's State Water Board has recently issued a Final Draft of their update to the 15-year old Industrial General Stormwater Permit. This is the permit that regulates the thousands of industrial sites statewide. Intense pressure from the industrial community has led to weakening of the proposed permit. In fact, after nearly three years of work, the current Draft Permit fails to make necessary improvements, and in several respects, weakens industrial pollution controls.